


touch is a curse

by humanbehavior



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Not Really Character Death, Robot/Human Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22353343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanbehavior/pseuds/humanbehavior
Summary: hongjoong bought an android and it'd be one of the best and worst decisions of his life.
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong & Park Seonghwa, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 14
Kudos: 97





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this rly quick ANYWAYZ IM GONNA GO WATCH PRODIGAL SON.M BYE

when hongjoong bought an android, he didn't expect that you know, it would possibly be the best thing to happen to him. it was weird sure, that out of your entire life, a robot was the best thing that was going for you. hongjoong wouldn't change it though, even if seonghwa was cheaper than everyone else's androids. when he went to go buy him he was cheaper than the rest.  
when he asked why, the store employee responded, "he started in show emotions with multiple owners, however if he starts doing that, we usually just restart them."  
hongjoong doesn't know what he would do if he had to restart seonghwa, it was like he was basically killing him then bringing him back to life. it was odd. 

anyways, back to now, today was seonghwas birthday or as seonghwa actually like to call it, his purchase anniversary. seonghwa always liked to joke about it- or as much as he was allowed to joke with his coding.  
hongjoong was currently running errands when seonghwa called.  
"hi joongie!" seonghwa greeted sweetly on the phone and hongjoong smiled to himself.  
"hi 'hwa, what's up?" hongjoong asked seonghwa who was laughing on the other side of the phone.  
even if hongjoong knew this cute, magical laugh that gave him butterflies everytime was made by some forms of coding, it still made him happy no matter what.  
"i couldn- i couldn-" seonghwa cut himself off by laughing again, seonghwa quickly composed himself, "please look at the meme i just sent you joongie!" 

seonghwa had just learned about memes by accident last week and he only had yeosang to blame. yeosang had shown seonghwa a meme on twitter and while yeosang was busy laughing at a deep fried photo with the word, 'börger' over it, seonghwa simply stared at it. it made sense since you know, seonghwa never developed a weird sense of humor due to his coding. so in turn, yeosang had to teach him about memes so here we were. 

hongjoong sighed, "alright, alright hold up." hongjoong took the phone away from his ear and looked at the messages. seonghwa had sent a picture followed by a keyboard smash (hongjoong has no idea how he learned what that was and it's still a mystery to him). the picture that seonghwa had sent was an android holding a broken android phone, the picture was deep fried and the text on the meme said 'brothe.e.e.e.e..r'. hongjoong let out a small laugh. putting his phone back to his ear, hongjoong told seonghwa,"that's cute."  
he could basically hear seonghwa beaming through the phone when he asked hongjoong, "get it? like i'm and android and the phone is called-"  
"an android, " hongjoong finished his sentence. even though he couldn't see seonghwa, he could feel him nodding through the phone. 

"uh, seonghwa i'm gonna go, i have to finish my errands, i'll call you back, though," hongjoong said and seonghwa quickly said goodbye then hung up the phone.

nearly three hours later, hongjoong had finished his errands and made it home to his small apartment with seonghwa within the same hour.

the apartment was silent as hongjoong had unlocked the door and slipped his shoes off at the door. it was so silent, he could only hear the creaking of the floorboards underneath his feet.

"seonghwa?" hongjoong asks as he walks further into the apartment. if seonghwa had left, this wouldn't be the first time. the boy had left before just because hongjoong mentioned needing something hours before and seonghwa had left to get it. that wasn't the circumstance now, though.  
hongjoong finally reached the bedroom and there the android was. seonghwa set down the phone he was messing with on the bed softly.  
"hi," hongjoong grinned as he began to take off his winter coat, "for some reason it's like everyone was running errands out today so i finished later than usual."  
"doesn't matter," seonghwa says softly that if hongjoong wasn't awaiting a response he would've never caught it.  
hongjoongs head perks up, "what do you mean?"  
seonghwa doesn't respond and instead stares straight ahead at the blank wall. hongjoong sits on the bed next to the android and stares at him in his eyes while holding his hands. hongjoongs never felt anything feel so lively yet, dead at the same time.  
hongjoong chuckled nervously, "seonghwa talk to me." seonghwa looked at hongjoong in his eyes but it felt like anyone but him. it felt robotic and as if seonghwa wasn't really there.

"why didn't you call back?" seonghwa asked monotony. hongjoong had never heard or experienced seonghwas voice get like this- it was scary and haunting.  
"uh, i was busy, seonghwa-" hongjoong begins until seonghwa cuts him off,"you picked up my call beforehand, what makes it any different for you to call?"  
"seonghwa i'm sorry-" hongjoong stops in his tracks when he sees seonghwa keep staring at him with no emotion in his eyes. something was off, seonghwa wasn't right.

"no you're not. it's my fucking birthday and yet you couldn't bother to pick up the phone and call back." hongjoong stared at seonghwa in silence. something was definitely off now. the boy never even cursed in front of him and he'd never gotten like this. seonghwa was malfunctioning now. 

hongjoong sighed, combing his fingers through his hair, "look, seonghwa. it was busy and i didn't have time to call back alright?" hongjoong attempted to make seonghwa calm while he tried thinking of where he left the manual for seonghwa at.  
"why was it busy?" seonghwa asks with a sudden tone of politeness. hongjoong slowly inches away from seonghwa, off of his bed to look through his bedside dresser. 

"um, don't know," hongjoong says as he looks through a bunch of papers,"maybe there was like, a sale or something. you know how stores are."

hongjoong doesn't hear anything from seonghwa for a minute until he feels his body being slammed down and pinned to the ground.  
"liar," seonghwa says with venom in his voice,"there were no sales, what were you doing? huh?" 

"hwa i wasn't ...i wasn't doing anything except errands, that's it," hongjoong says, choked up. he'd never seen seonghwa like this and the last thing he'd want to do is hurt him or restart him but it seems like those are the only options he has right now. 

hongjoong suddenly remembers what the employee had told him the day he bought seonghwa but he had brushed it off like it was nothing and like he would never need it.  
the employee had pulled him aside and said, "due to this being a faulty model, i need to tell you how to restart it if needed."  
hongjoong had laughed nervously, "uh, okay?"  
the employee had shown him a spot on the back of the ear and then sent him on his merry way. 

hongjoong reached up to feel behind his ear and seonghwa noticed what he was doing and sternly asked,"what are you doing?" 

hongjoong panicked and quickly pressed the button behind his ear and the boy fell limp. hongjoong carefully lifted the boys body and set him aside. getting up from the floor, hongjoong stared at the boys body in shock, he just killed his boyfriend but like, not really cause he was never alive in the first place but like, still. 

hongjoong sat on the floor of his small kitchen, rocking back and forth slowly, "oh god, oh fuck, i just killed my boyfriend. " 

a voice that hongjoong thought he'd never hear again, greeted him from his bedroom, "hello i'm model 040398-M, what would you like to be my name?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alot of ppl wanted part 2 so here it is!!! :D also yes theres a part three but its already written so it'll be up tmrw!! <33

"hello i'm model 040398-M, what would you like to be my name?" 

hongjoongs head perks up at the sound of seonghwas voice. hongjoong gets up from his sitting position on the floor, slowly inching towards the shared bedroom. 

"hello?" hongjoong asks aloud, carefully. once hongjoong reaches the bedroom, seonghwa is sitting on the bed peacefully like nothing happened minutes before. 

"hello i'm model 040398-M, what would you like to be my name?" seonghwa repeats, smiling at hongjoong with a childlike look in his eyes.

"seonghwa. " hongjoong confirms to the boy. seonghwa nods, processing the name. 

"hello, i'm seonghwa, what is your name?" seonghwa smiles, overstretching his hand over to hongjoong abruptly. hongjoong inches back, flinching back suddenly by the action. 

seonghwa notices this and retracts his hand slowly from hongjoong. seonghwa holds his own hand close to his chest, "i apologize for that. i'll try not to move as fast next time." 

hongjoong slowly nods, looking at his now alive android which wasn't the case minutes ago. it was so odd, hongjoong hated the situation he was in. seonghwa was "dead" minutes ago and now that he had restarted seonghwa, the boy was acting like a completely different person. 

seonghwa tilts his head to the side and asks hongjoong, "what is your name? i never got it." 

"hongjoong. " 

seonghwa hums (or maybe he's just processing it? hongjoong doesn't even know what's going on at this point.) as seonghwa processes the little piece of information hongjoong had given him, his body decides it's a great idea to make noise. his stomach growls as hongjoong hadn't eaten all day. 

"it appears that you are hungry," seonghwa takes note of as hongjoong leaves his bedroom to make food with whatever happens to be in his fridge. seonghwa stands by the small dining room table uncomfortably, as if he were asking permission to sit down nonverbally.

"uh, you can sit down if you want to," hongjoong says as he begins boiling water on the stove. seonghwa pulls out a chair and sits down. 

"can i ask you some questions to get to know you better? since i am designed to be a boyfriend. " seonghwa says, looking at hongjoong, who nods, allowing him to ask questions. 

seonghwa hums, "what is your favorite color?" hongjoong is shocked by the boys' first choice of a question. i mean, he has probably an infinite amount of information stored and yet, he wants to ask hongjoong about colors. it was oddly fascinating. 

"uh, i think red is my favorite color maybe, i don't think about it too often, if i'm being honest here," hongjoong says as he pours the hot water into the cup ramen container. 

"oh, " seonghwa says, nodding. he had never realized how little people think about their favorite things. 

hongjoong sits in front of seonghwa with his cup ramen and seonghwa seems oddly interested in it. seonghwa seems to scan the cup of ramen before he says,"how does it taste?" 

hongjoong, with a mouth full of ramen, looks at seonghwa, shocked before he swallows the food down to answer seonghwas question. 

"um, it's chicken ramen so…" hongjoong trails off and seonghwa stares at him before he says,"i have never eaten chicken so i don't know how it tastes. i can look up pictures of chicken and people eating chicken, though." 

"ah," hongjoong nods, "sorry." 

seonghwa smiles, "no need! i'm a robot and cannot eat, so do not apologize. that's the best part of buying me, you don't need to spend money on my food!"

hongjoong nods, continuing to eat in awkward silence while seonghwa watches. the silence between the two was oddly comforting at this time especially when seonghwa was simply acting like a newborn baby and not someone who just got murdered.

seonghwa keeps peeking at the noodles with sparkles in his eyes, whether that was in his coding or not, was unbeknownst to hongjoong. seonghwa looks up at hongjoong from where he was examining the golden brown wood of his small kitchen table with his wide eyes. 

hongjoong notices the way seonghwa keeps looking up every now and then, and asks, slowly as if he were a small child, "seonghwa, is there something you need?" 

seonghwa looks up from the table, "huh? what do you mean?" 

"i mean," hongjoong says emphasizing the second word, "you keep looking at the table as if it's the most fascinating thing in the world."

"oh! well it kind of is," seonghwa beams, with a smile on his lips before letting it fall slowly, "but, there is something oddly familiar about this place. like, i've been here before but for some reason i can't recall when." 

_shit_ , hongjoong thought, _he's remembering more quickly than i thought he would_. 

hongjoong sets his ramen aside carefully, closing the lid and setting his chopsticks on top of the cup.   
"if i told you something, can you promise me you wouldn't get mad, seonghwa?" hongjoong asks seonghwa who simply smiles in response. 

"well, i don't think i could get mad even if i wanted to. the coding for androids only allows specific emotions for certain models. with the model i am, my only emotions allowed are curiosity, excitement, happiness and sometimes sadness on very specific occasions," seonghwa explains to hongjoong who just stares at the boy blankly. hongjoong just wanted a simple answer not a seven page mla format academic paper on why he couldn't experience being mad from seonghwa. 

"so…..is that a no?" hongjoong asks and seonghwa nods. 

"okay," hongjoong inhales shakily. hongjoong is now oddly aware of how seonghwa is piercing through his soul with his warm eyes. god, he'd wished this wasn't so hard. 

"seonghwa, i reset you. this isn't your first time being here," hongjoong explains. 

"oh, i know, with models like me- the faulty ones, you have to reset them at most, two times during the years i'll last you."

"that's…that's not what i mean," hongjoong begins and seonghwa tilts his head in confusion and furrows his eyebrows, "huh? what do you mean then?"

"seonghwa, this is your seventh time being reset."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ummm so basically:D also!!! i have a twt if anyone wnats 2 chat its luvrirl <33 itz most mdzs rn but i Promise i am infact a kpoppie still


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ummm ahaha 😎 also i dont know why but this is so funny but completely unrelated to the fic....um i wrote both pt 2 n 3 and an additional fic during a party LMAO 💀 imagine socializing.....couldn't b me

"seonghwa this is your seventh time being reset." 

the smile on seonghwas face falls, "i..i don't believe you," seonghwa stutters. hongjoong sighs, getting his phone out of the back of his jeans pocket. hongjoong opens his gallery app, and moves his chair next to seonghwa. 

hongjoong shows seonghwa photos of him with brown, blonde, dark red, navy, lavender, strawberry blonde, and white hair. the photos were different situations, there were many were the two were in the same cafe on a date in different seasons, probably to have seonghwa relearn their dates. then, there were the pictures of the two in bed, in many of them, seonghwa was passed out asleep like a baby. 

and then there was the videos. the videos made seonghwa feel different. in the pictures, he knew it was him but there was no clear proof the boy was there in the moment. in the videos, there the proof was- with seonghwa smiling, cuddling, and kissing hongjoong on multiple occasions. 

the most pictures and videos seonghwa was in was with his blonde hair, that's the longest he was alive. 

seonghwa looks up from the phone to hongjoong with glossy eyes, "why?" he croaks out, voice wavering. 

hongjoong would lie to seonghwa saying something like i don't know but at this point, he has to be honest. he's broken this boys' heart and there's no use in lying to him. 

"you began having more and more emotions and it wasn't the good ones. you became more angry and jealous mostly in private i've realized, until eventually you snap. sometimes, you're not violent at all, but other times, you're so violent that i almost die," hongjoong explains and turns his phone back on to show seonghwa a video of him when he was pure blonde. 

the video was of hongjoong and seonghwa in bed, covered up by blankets. hongjoong pecked him on the lips and as expected, the boy became flustered, whining, "stop, joongie!" as hongjoong smiled and zoomed in on the boys' face. 

"when you were blonde, you were the most loving and sweet but you were also the most deadly. you tried to choke me to death one day when we were in bed," hongjoong explains and seonghwa covers his mouth with the sleeve of his oversized sweater, in shock. 

"why do you keep me if you don't know whether i'm going to kill you this time or not? you could easily just toss me out since i'm a faulty model-" seonghwa begins and hongjoong cuts him off. 

looking at seonghwa with sympathetic eyes, he takes seonghwas left hand and envelops it with both of his hands.   
"i'm gonna be honest here, hwa. i would've the first time i had to reset you but i made a huge mistake. when i bought you, i made the mistake of showing you off to my friends so if anything, i'm keeping you for the sake of my friends. my friends love you so much, they would literally kill me if i just threw you away." hongjoong explains. 

hongjoong gets up from his chair without a word and begins walking to his bedroom and seonghwa follows him, afraid of what hongjoong is doing. hongjoong goes to his closet and at the very top is a velvet long box. hongjoong gets the box down and reaches into the box and hands seonghwa seven usb ports. 

seonghwa looks at hongjoong who stands across from him nervously. 

"what are these?" seonghwa asks, confused out of his mind. i mean who wouldn't be if your boyfriend has admitted to resetting you more than he's supposed to and gives you usb ports. 

"it's all of your memories. every single one down to the second. so you can decide what to do with them. you can either watch them, or burn them and wait until you eventually turn violent and get reset again." hongjoong says as if he's done this multiple times, which he probably has due to the situation. 

"can i have um, a laptop? i wasn't made with like, one of those usb port things, so i have to um, take information in manually," seonghwa explains and hongjoong nods, "yeah! oh my god, i'm so sorry i forgot." 

hongjoong fetches him a laptop which seonghwa assumes was his previously because his user on the computer is hwap4rk. 

seonghwa put in the first usb into the computer and skips past the first, i don't know, month. the two are so awkward around each other that seonghwa can't help but cringe at the two trying to get to know each other. seonghwa watches the footage of them at the cafe they always go to in all the pictures. hoongjoong dyes his hair a matching shade of brown and even though it isn't obvious to everyone else in the world, seonghwa thought it was cute then and now.  
he watches as hongjoong introduces him to his friend group. seonghwa can't see what most of them look like because he was looking down nearly ninety percent of the time. the only people he did see besides hongjoong was san, yeosang, and mingi because san had cooed,"aw, he's so cute!" and yeosang and mingi at the same time had said, "we know." all the happiness ended soon, seonghwa wish he hadn't had a morbid curiosity to know what he had tried the first time. seonghwa had tried to stab him but hongjoong had luckily gotten the knife out of his hold. seonghwa was grateful hongjoong didn't hesitate to restart him the first time because then, he didn't have to see everything that happened. 

seonghwa puts the second usb and least to say, he was scared if anything. the second time he was restarted, he was blonde. when seonghwa was blonde he was the most loving yet the most violent. there was no awkward period for the two like seonghwa had expected. they quickly went into going on dates to various different places like the café, bookstore, and the movies (seonghwa wondered if it was technically pirating if you were just watching it from memories of your old life).  
seonghwa and hongjoong did what any couple would do if they were in love: they had sex, like a lot. seonghwa desperately wanted to skip over these parts but he couldn't help but watch them because of how cute hongjoong was every time. hongjoong would always ask if seonghwa was okay or if he needed a break or if seonghwa wanted to top, hongjoong truly cared for seonghwa. it felt as if seonghwa began becoming faulty everytime they fell more in love. thankfully, the footage of when seonghwa tried to choke hongjoong to death was corrupted (seonghwa thanked the robot coding gods for making him not watch it). 

it was more disturbing as seonghwa had gotten through more of the usbs, everytime seonghwa seemed to be the most in love he thought he could get, he always ended up becoming extremely jealous and full of rage that he'd try and kill hongjoong differently every time. 

after seonghwa had finished watching all the usbs he realized something. he knows he shouldn't love hongjoong especially for restarting him over five times. after watching all the footage and seeing the pure love in hongjoongs eyes every time, seonghwa couldn't help but fall in love with him all over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pee pee poo poo :) anyway, thats the end! i doubt ill expand on tgis au like my heaven/hell au thingy thts like a series now but like if ya wanna see me yell on twt its luvrirl n im just Annoying

**Author's Note:**

> hehhehehhe ^____^ lmk what u think coz i hate this but YEA!


End file.
